OTOY Forums

Hi there,

I've been reading a lot of topics about my issue here and looking for information about this, but I though I might ask more specifically about my situation, so here it goes:

I currently have a GTX 970 but I'm really feeling the need for the upgrade, so, considering my budget, I've been thinking about investing in the following options:

- Another GTX 970 (the cheapset solution)

- A GTX 980 (more cudas but still with 4GB VRam, so nothing gets wasted)

- don't give a damn about the Vram bit and really buy a 1070 or something and just go building up.

It's not limited to it, but I guess it's enough for you guys to understand my situation.

Just as a final note, I'm not overly stuck with that budget, I wanna feel I'm investing the right money in the right piece and really feel the difference in my renders.

Thank you very much!

Others on the forum may be more knowledgeable on this but below is what I know.

The card memory size relates to the size of a scene you can load/ render. However this does not affect render speed. If you have not run into file size issues with the 970 then you can safely go with a 4gb card. The render speed is related to the number of cuda cores on a card. If money is no object then just go to Nvidia website and look for the card with most number of cuda cores. I think they have a titan xp for around $1200. That is the best option but not everyone can afford it.

My PC also has a 970 card which I bought for a good discount in December 2016. Unfortunately GPU prices lately have jumped the rails. My recommendation is to wait a little longer. Most likely May/ June 2018 Nvidia will release new cards and price of current cards will get a discount. Then you could pick up a 1060 6gb or a 1070 8gb card. In the mean time if you have a deadline etc just use ORC.

In any case avoid buying used cards from ebay as they are most likely abused by 24/7 use.

Best,

Thanks for the reply and the tips!

Didn't realize used cards could have this issue

I don't plan on spending that much money, like on a Titan X, but good to know about the cudas...I'd just simply look for the one with the most cudas for my buck then.

I'll take a look into the price fluctuation where I live so I don't pay to much more.

Thanks again!